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new here....solid ? and 14 month old

this is new territory for me even though this is my 3 child. my first 2 were introduced to solids around 9 months and did fine. although the self weaned shortly after they turned one because they were eating a good amount of solids. with this baby we waited till just after 10 months and she still doesn't want to eat! we've tried bananas and she threw up all over our bed a few hours later so no more bananas. we tried "normal" things for first foods and she would gag and even throw up the food (even threw up applesauce and the "bite" was smaller than a pea!). so we slowly would give her small bites and 98% of the time we might get one bite in (and this is still smaller than a pea) and then she flat out refuses anything else. she'll clamp her mouth closed and turn her head and after a few minutes she'll yell at me! but yet she'll open her mouth wide for me to brush her teeth! at her 1 yr checkup the doc suggested we just keep trying each day and if my 15 months she's still not eating she wants to refer us to an eating specialist. i don't really see the point in such a small babe- i mean she won't be nursing at 10 yrs old! BUT i do want her to start learning how to eat. it's almost as if she doesn't know what to do with the small bites i do manage to get in her mouth. first of all she opens her mouth only a little. i hurry and get the spoon in and she manages to spit it out- sometimes it looks like she's not doing it on purpose either. she'll open her mouth for crumbs of bread but they literally have to me crumbs. last week at church a friend gave her a piece that was a tad bigger than a regular crumb and babe proceeded to vomit ALL over her!!!! down her blouse and everything! it's not specifically a texture thing- she will nibble at blackberries and cherries. she usually just eats about a 1/2 of a blackberry. if she eats a whole one in 1 day that's a LOT for her. she nibbled a small piece of brocolli once. but she just refuses to eat. she nurses a lot and if you were to see her you would have no idea the child doesn't eat. people will ask a question and if i say "oh she doesn't eat foods yet" they look so surprised and then look at her chubby face and legs and say "well you must have some good milk cause she sure isn't starving!" and it does make me feel good. i just want her to learn how to eat! what else can i do? the child can't live on a 1/2 a blackberry every day! i've tried giving her pieces she can pick up but she doesn't put anything in her mouth- she plays with it, smears it and throws it on the floor. we don't do dairy (had a terrible reaction to the frosting on her homemade first birthday cake and will have a bad day/night and spit up STILL if i eat dairy) or citrus (broke out in hives after sucking on my piece). and i still have not tried bananas again for fear that she had some reaction to that too with the vomiting. what else can i do for her? if i just wait for her to show interest and ability to chew and swallow i'll be waiting for another year!!! is breast milk (and i still take my prenatal vitamins and eat pretty good) enough for her to thrive on at 14 months old? will she be lacking in anything? doc did check her iron at 1 yr and she was fine.

Re: new here....solid ? and 14 month old

some of them are. but she won't feed herself. if i give her pieces of food she won't stick them in her mouth. we've tried showing her what to do and she just won't do it. it's like she has absolutely NO interest in foods at all! i guess my concern is that at 14 months is that ok? i don't want the doc to freak out on us either. but aside from forcing food into her (which i'm not going to do) what does she expect us to do?

Re: new here....solid ? and 14 month old

we have not tried meats. something about her not having her molars in 100% and able to chew just doesn't seem "normal" to me. i know i'm just being weird, but we don't eat that much meat anyhow. her iron was fine. and as far as allergies- we have none in our house. neither me, my husband or the other 2 kids. however with the baby we've noticed she doesn't tolerate cows milk (either from my milk when i have some or from her tasting foods with dairy in them) very well at all so we just eliminate it. when i do "cheat" and have some, she is cranky and spits up a LOT so i try not to have any. and then once she threw up a few hours after eating a banana and once broke out in hives after sucking on an orange. so those are the only things we know so far. i've not had her tested for them- this is just what we observe at home. today i picked a sugar snap pea from the garden and let her bite off a small piece. she swallowed one and then went for another so i let her. she bit off a small piece again (probably the size of 1/2 a pea) and she gagged and threw up. seems like she has a very sensitive gag reflex, but at the same time prefers foods she can bite....

Re: new here....solid ? and 14 month old

well, the only avocade and sweet potato we tried was mashed. then i mashed and froze the rest in little cubes, so i'll have to buy another one and give her pieces and see what she does. on a side note we went to a graduation party tonight and there was fruit out so i grabbed some watermelon. well she ate a few smallish bites (in total maybe the size of a dime) and then gagged and threw up again. and then after that wouldn't eat anymore. if it is just a very sensitive gag reflex, when do they typically outgrow it enough to eat better? i suppose i'm so worried about it now because i know we are going to the doctors in another month and she's going to ask.

Re: new here....solid ? and 14 month old

I had lots of problems with my daughter who is now 2 1/2. She did fine with baby food. Around 9-10 months, I tried giving her things likes smashed up banana, mashed potatoes and other foods that were thicker than baby food. Everytime I fed her anything, she would gag a lot. Sometimes her face would get really red until she coughed it up. And a couple of times she threw up all over. Needless to say, I was VERY freaked out. Our best friend just happens to have a sister who is an occupational therapist. She specializes in baby/child feeding and she is one of the best in her field. So, she took a look at her. She definitely had a sensitivity to textures. But, her main problem was that her tongue was not pushing the food off to the side. Next time you eat, pay attention to this. You will see that you automatically push the food to the side of your mouth. Anyhow, eventually she did get better. She showed improvements around 12-14 months. And she got much better around 18-20 months.

I would highly recommend a feeding specialist. If she has a texture sensitivity, they have some great tricks to help her overcome it. We didn't do any further work with the O.T. because we knew she would eventually get the hang of it. But, your mind could be reassured if you take your LO to see a specialist. They know a lot about feeding...it is really amazing.